1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a facsimile apparatus using the recording apparatus, and more particularly to an image recording apparatus capable of selectively using a monochromatic recording head and a color recording head and a facsimile apparatus using the image recording apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
In a recording apparatus which uses an exchangeable cartridge type recording head for discharging ink in accordance with a conventional ink jet system and on which a monochromatic recording head is mounted for monochromatic recording and a color recording head is mounted for color recording, it is necessary to determine whether the mounted cartridge is the color recording head or the monochromatic recording head by a CPU in the apparatus or by opening a cover of the apparatus and visually checking the cartridge by a user of the apparatus.
Since the user of the apparatus cannot identify from an external appearance whether the color recording head cartridge is mounted or the monochromatic recording cartridge is mounted, the prior art has the following shortcoming.
Ink orifices of the recording head of the recording apparatus apt to be clogged with ink by the drying of the ink. So, the failure in ink discharge due to the drying of the ink should be prevented by consuming a small amount of ink by ink suction or preliminary discharge (ink discharge not related to recording) at a constant interval.
It is desired from a standpoint of the effective use of apparatus resource to design a facsimile apparatus having a recording unit for recording by using the exchangeable cartridge type color or monochromatic recording head for discharging ink in accordance with the ink jet system as described above, so as to utilize the record unit of the facsimile apparatus as a printing apparatus, too. However, in such a dual function apparatus which may work as either a facsimile machine or a printer, it is necessary to have a facsimile mode for transmitting and receiving facsimile image information in accordance with the G3 protocol and a printer mode to record information supplied from an external computer, but the provision of such two modes causes the following problem.
Namely, in the facsimile mode, since color image information is not received, color ink is not used in recording received information. However, where the color recording cartridge is mounted, the color ink is wastefully consumed by the preliminary discharge or the suction of the color ink to avoid the failure in color ink discharge although the color ink is not used for recording facsimile image information.
If the user of the apparatus does not notice externally from the apparatus that a type of the mounted cartridge is the color recording head, the color ink in the mounted cartridge is consumed while the user does not notice it, and if such a condition lasts long, the color ink is exhausted in spite of the fact that the color ink is not actually used in the recording.